Cities and Memory x Elska: new collaboration launches

We’re delighted to launch our first ever Cities and Memory vocal track today – it’s a special collaboration with the super-talented Elska, which we think has come out sounding rather splendid. Starting with a binaural field recording of waves crashing onto an Italian beach last summer, we built a music track around the sample.

In the instrumental track, the waves are at the heart, running through its centre and chopped up and timed so they undulate in time with the bassline. The guitars and synths are the sparkling crests of the waves as they wash over the rocks from where the recording was made, and Elska brings the missing ingredients.”

“Having been a fan of Stuart’s Cities and Memory project for quite some time, I was delighted at the opportunity to collaborate on a beautiful, instrumental composition that he was working on. Intuitively, I tend to hear overlapping vocal melodies that swell and repeat. Hearing the wave samples from an unfamiliar town in Italy immediately sparked patterns of nostalgia, longing, and wonder in both the vocal phrasings and lyrics. The wave crashes represent milestones and moments in time. We slowly rewind back to days where we felt fearless and comforted by love. We are constantly reaching for this ecstasy amidst the fear. I believe we are meant to dance and progress with nature; ebbing and flowing with the tides and recessions. The guitar helps build momentum; emulating the endless oscillations. The vocal layers swell with these gestures; creating a sense of longing and hope as we keep returning to older days.”

You can listen and download the track for free here:

Watch a video for the track, containing footage from our personal travels: